Recovery methods

shels4ever

The last couple of week i've been reading up on different methods of recovery after session. Does anyone have any good links to or books on the topic. The main areas i've been looking into are

1. Nutrition (lots about on this topic so not a major problem)
2. Cold therpy ( Ice bath etc seems to be lots of conflicting reports on the results )
3. Heat therpy - for recovery after session to aid recovery, ie warm baths , steam etc, again on this area there seem to be conflicting reports.

Thanks

RacoonQueen

I sit in front of the TV for the rest of the day/night. I find it works well.

Edit: I should have head and cold therapy articles somewhere in my bookmarks/computer. I'll have a look when I get a chance.

shels4ever

RacoonQueen wrote: »

I sit in front of the TV for the rest of the day/night. I find it works well.

Edit: I should have head and cold therapy articles somewhere in my bookmarks/computer. I'll have a look when I get a chance.

That would have been my old approach, but think I need to ensure that I don't get injured now, rather than reacting to pains and strains.

YFlyer

Sleep and Transcendental Meditation (can't vouch for other techniques).

tunney

Sleep

pgibbo

Nutrition, skins recovery tights, foam rolling and sleep for me.

I also find that a leisurely walk helps or cutting the lawn if it's the right time of year.

shels4ever

tunney wrote: »

Sleep

Thats one area that does need to be impoved on.

jayok77

Regards to recovery after a workout. I took part in a study around four years ago in DCU where recovery methods post exercise were studied to see if they had an effect on a later performance which you might find interesting. Here is the executive summary.

Abstract

Objective: Adequate recovery between training and competition stresses is essential to optimise performance. Recovery is an evolving area that many sports teams are attempting to maximise by utilising a wide range of recovery modalities as integral parts of training programmes. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of various recovery modalities, including ice bath immersion, on the recovery process and to investigate the potential benefits of these strategies on subsequent performance.

Methodology: Ten trained male athletes carried out three trials in total, completing a different, randomly assigned recovery modality each time. Each test began with a maximal aerobic endurance test (20 metre shuttle test), after which subjects completed one of the three recovery strategies – passive recovery, active recovery or ice bath immersion. Passive recovery involved lying supine on a recovery bed for 20 minutes; active recovery entailed cycling for 20 minutes at 50% heart rate reserve; and ice bath immersion required subjects to sit waist deep in an ice bath (5-8°C) for 3 x 30 second repetitions separated by one minute standing outside the bath.

Following a 45 minute post-recovery strategy period, subjects completed six shuttles of a timed performance test – Illinois agility sprint test. Plasma lactate concentrations and muscle soreness ratings were measured at various intervals throughout the testing.

Results: Following a repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) it was found that active recovery resulted in significantly greater rates of lactate removal 5 minutes into the recovery strategy when compared to passive recovery (p = 0.01). Muscle soreness was significantly lower for ice bath immersion than for active recovery immediately after the 20 minute recovery period (p = 0.006). No significant differences were observed for the subsequent performance test.

Conclusion:These results indicate that although active recovery enhances lactate removal and ice bath immersion reduces muscle soreness, none of the recovery modalities have a significant effect on subsequent performance.

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Basically what the study found was that none of the recovery strategies had a statistically significant effect on performance. This means that lying down for 20 minutes after exercise would be no different to using an ice bath in terms on the effect on performance 45 minutes later. Active recovery resulted in significantly lower blood lactate levels and ice bath immersion resulted in significantly lower muscle soreness levels when compared to passive recovery but neither of these factors appeared to affect subsequent performance.

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So although they don't appear have a much different effect on a later performance I think you have to take into account how the athlete feels e.g. If you have sore muscles then cold treatment may help with soreness levels.